Yes I Can

After careful consideration and deep insights I have decided that continuing to proceed with Yes I Can is not the right thing for me to do. So, I regret to say that this page will no longer be monitored or updated. Goodbye my friends. See you in the real world.

🌻
Our words are more powerful than we realize!

I read that it's better for the child if you simply walked to another room to regroup - instead of saying that snarky or negative comment. Those unkind words can stay with a person - lots of us know this firsthand!

Yet, when we’re at the end of our ropes, these comments shoot out of our mouths. 🙊

So let’s bring this idea to the front of our heads.
Before we say something we might regret, do we need to pause?
Strengthening that connection with our kids can be one of the most important keys to unschooling success! 💞

"The drive to play freely is a basic, biological drive. Lack of free play may not kill the physical body, as would lack of food, air or water, but it kills the spirit and stunts mental growth. Free play is the means by which children learn to make friends, overcome their fears, solve their own problems, and generally take control of their own lives. It is also the primary means by which children practice and acquire the physical and intellectual skills that are essential for success in the culture in which they are growing. . . . The things that children learn through their own initiatives, in free play, cannot be taught in other ways." Peter Gray

Hi all,
It's time for me to get serious about this learning center. I've been struggling to start, but now is the time. First thing first: I need a board of directors for this non profit. I am looking for 2 or 3 people, or more, who are willing to work with me on creating this center. There will be some annual compensation, plus compensation for travel and time. My ideal candidate will be someone who understands and supports the ideas of unschooling/self directed learning, or is willing to learn about them. Experience on boards is a real plus!
Contact me for further information and questions.

Don't forget, this Thursday, July 14, is the second meeting of the Education book club. Please join me as we discuss the ideas of Blake Boles' book "Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?". I will present highlights from the book, so reading it beforehand will not be necessary.
Start the new homeschooling school year by meeting new people, building your support system, reaffirming your educational beliefs, and maybe having a little bit of fun.
You may learn a few things that will help you let your children learn and grow without you tearing your hair out.
Meet me at 7:00 at 707 S. Carriage Crossing in Nixa.

How is unschooling or Self-Directed education different from most homeschooling?
Unschooling has no textbooks, no curriculum, class times, or tests. There are no worksheets or challenges imposed by adults. If your kids are interested in primates, great. You can spend as long as they want studying them. If that's one hour, fine. If that's one year, also fine. It's what the kids want, not the adults.
It is completely up to the kids what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, for how long, and how in depth they want to go. The children lead by their innate curiosity, and they learn deeply.
Unschooling is about applying the notion of consent to
the realm of education. If the kids don't want to do it, then don't do it!

Here is the phrase that keeps you in a cage:
I can't
And here is the key to the cage:
I could if I
The cage phrase:
I don't know
The key to the cage:
I'll find out.
The cage phrase:
I hate
The key to the cage:
I prefer
The cage phrase:
I have to
The key to the cage
I get to
loosely incorporated from Blake Boles' book "The
Art of Self-directed Learning"

Curriculums represent a tiny subset of the skills and knowledge that are important to our society. In this day and age, nobody can learn more than a sliver of all there is to know Why let a stranger decide what your child should learn? Why choose to have your child learn the same things a purchased curriculum presents or that the school is using? There is great loss when everyone learns the same things. Consider letting the child choose.

Beneath every behavior is a Feeling.
And beneath each feeling is a Need.
When we meet that Need rather focus on the behavior,
we begin to deal with the Cause
not the symptom.